haguele vote happening in the senate floor. dana bash on capitol hill. barbara starr at the pentagon. dana, i understand 15 republicans voting with the democrats to move forward on the official vote for hagel as defense secretary. how did it break down? what do we know? >> reporter: after all of the division, all of the debate, all of the delay, this was a pretty bipartisan vote to stop this filibuster and to allow the haguele nomination to go through. 71-27. that's right. 71-27. it wasn't even close to move this along. and we believe actually maybe more towards 18 republicans. we're trying to get the final breakdown. we can report that the final confirmation vote will happen in about two hours plus, 4:30 eastern. three hours, i should say. by the end of the day, chuck hagel, according to the vote, will be officially confirmed by the senate as the next defense secretary, after a lot of partisan division and pretty ugly back and forth about him and about his positions and it's gotten personal. >> and i want to bring in barbara starr at the pentagon. obviously there are some things he'

people in the pentagon can count votes too. we've never had a defense secretary with this many opposing votes. now this is something he can shake off, but it's going to take some time. >> woodruff: that's right. i mean he has the fewest confirming volts of any defense secretary since the job was created. mark thompson, how does that affect his ability to do his job? >> well, it will depend. it will affect it in a big way if he acts as he did in his con for megs hearing which by all accounts he did not do well. conversely, i talked to people in the pentagon. the lower in ranks you go, the more they like this guy. the more they like the sense that an enlisted man is going to run the building. if you can use that as a springboard he's facing immense challenges from sequestration to afghanistan to a nuclear iran but it's an opportunity for him to seize the moment. if he does, people will forget this pretty quickly i think. >> woodruff: what about the sour relations or whatever lingering effect there is from this loud vote of no confidence from republicans in the senate? does that a

standing by in rome. if chuck hagel gets confirm what will his first few days at the pentagon look like. there's new information coming in to "the situation room" right now. [ male announcer ] when these come together, and these come together, one thing you can depend on is that these will come together. delicious and wholesome. some combinations were just meant to be. tomato soup from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. good morning, turtle. ♪ my friends are all around me ♪ my friends, they do surround me ♪ ♪ i hope this never ends ♪ and we'll be the best of friends ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing the reimagined 2013 chevrolet traverse. all set? all set. with spacious seating for up to eight. imagine that. chevrolet. find new roads. i honestly loved smoking, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. it put me at ease that you could smoke on the first week. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitati

pentagon black hole because the joint strike fighter caucus in congress is more committed to funneling fortunes to their war profiteer buddies then to public education health care or infrastructure plain and simple if you think we have a debt crisis and you want to keep funding military programs we don't need instead of healthcare programs we do need and you're not a deficit hawk you're just stuck with policies that are very dear. after the break researchers have found that increases in violent crimes including gun violence are related to war wage trends so it could increase the national minimum wage help solve our epidemic of gun violence in america. potentially deadly blizzard taking aim for the northeast it's expected to hit stunning in a few hours from new york to maine we have team coverage of the storm. but what we're watching is the very heavy snow moving into boston proper earlier today it was very sticky you can see it start to become much more powdery down to the bottom line there is still a lot of snow out here a good place for snowball fight. piece and it is going

highlight the impact of pentagon cuts and a shipbuilding facility. on monday he urged a gathering of governors to push congress into action to avert the looming sequester showdown. >> now, these in packs will not all be felt on day one, but rest assured, the uncertainty is already having an effect. companies are preparing layoff notices. families are preparing to cut back on expenses. the longer these cuts are in place, the bigger the impact will become. so while you are in town, i hope you speak with your congressional delegation and remind them in no uncertain terms exactly what is at stake and exactly who is at risk. because here is the thing, these cuts do not have to happen. congress can turn them off any time with just a little bit of compromise. >> joining us our guests to uncover how billionaire investor such as pete peterson have helped reshaped the national debate on the economy, the debt, and social spending. between 2007 and 2011, peterson personally contributed nearly $500 million to his peter g. peterson foundation to push for congress to cut social security, medicare a